{"id":550957,"date":"2026-03-19T17:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550957\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:03:09","slug":"wimbledon-tennis-expansion-plans-get-boost-after-high-court-judgment-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550957\/","title":{"rendered":"Wimbledon tennis expansion plans get boost after high court judgment | Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wimbledon has received a major boost to its expansion plans. The All England Club\u2019s proposals to almost triple the size of the current site are not prohibited by restrictions on how the land earmarked for development can be used, a high court judge has ruled.<\/p>\n

The plans, approved by the Greater London Authority (GLA) in 2024, could mean the construction of 38 tennis courts and an 8,000-seat stadium on the site of the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club, enabling the club to host qualifying matches for the tournament.<\/p>\n

The campaign group Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) told the high court in January that a statutory trust exists under the Public Health Act 1875, meaning the land must be used \u201cfor the purpose of being used as public walks or pleasure grounds\u201d and therefore the development could not go ahead.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for the club said the land was never subject to a trust and, if it was, it did not survive the club\u2019s purchase of the freehold in 1993. In a ruling on Thursday, Mr Justice Thompsell said the land was \u201cnever appropriated or dedicated to the use of public recreation\u201d and instead \u201cwas used as a private golf club\u201d, adding that the club was \u201cunencumbered by any statutory trust\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt never became the subject of a statutory trust and therefore the 1986 lease and the 1993 transfer of the freehold were each made free of such trust. Even if the above proposition is wrong, it is clear that the land was never used or laid out for public recreation.\u201d The ruling removes an obstacle to the work going ahead, but the GLA\u2019s decision to grant planning permission for the scheme remains the subject of legal action.<\/p>\n

SWP lost a high court challenge over the authority\u2019s decision to approve the scheme in July last year<\/a> but has since been given the green light to challenge that ruling at the court of appeal, which is expected to be heard at a later date. The group said it would also seek to challenge Thursday\u2019s ruling at the Court of Appeal, given the \u201cnationally important issues of law involved in the case\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Hudson, a director of SWP, said that there was a \u201cstrong case for protecting this precious open space\u201d. He said: \u201cWimbledon can do better because there are existing, alternative plans which show that their scheme can be accommodated on their current site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis not only saves the environment but leaves the park free for the recreation and enjoyment of the public. These better plans would still allow [the club] to stage a qualifying tournament on site in keeping with the other grand slams. Therefore, we fight on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek were the singles\u2019 champions at Wimbledon in 2025 Photograph: AELTC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Deborah Jevans, chair of the All England Club, said the ruling provided \u201cimportant clarity\u201d. She said: \u201cThe ruling represents a significant milestone for our plans, which will, as well as delivering 27 acres of beautiful new public parkland on previously private land, allow us to maintain Wimbledon\u2019s position as one of the world\u2019s most successful sporting events.<\/p>\n

\u201cHosting our qualifying competition in SW19 will bring us into line with the other grand slams, and by increasing the practice facilities for the world\u2019s best players, we will bring fans even closer to the sport\u2019s best athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know from our discussions with more than 10,000 local residents that the vast majority of people want us to get on and deliver the benefits of our plans as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wimbledon has received a major boost to its expansion plans. The All England Club\u2019s proposals to almost triple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-550957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}